Many volunteers and donors from St. John’s and Old North contributed to another successful B-SAFE week at St. Luke’s/San Lucas Episcopal Church in Chelsea. Each day, lunch was provided for 85 campers and counselors from Chelsea, Everett, and East Boston. Each day we served

Daily lunches included tacos, ziti and meatballs from La Famiglia Giorgio’s, arranged by Old North, pasta, hamburgers and hot dogs prepared by our volunteers from  St. John’s, and pizza from Regina’s (thank you, Danny Spinetto!)  After serving lunch each day, we had a chance to sit down, meet the kids and make friends. On Thursday, Tom led a worship service after lunch, with children hearing the story of how Abraham and Sarah’s children would become as numerous as the  stars in the sky.

Priscilla Burns, in addition to coordinating the efforts of both churches for the whole week,  planned an incredible outdoor field trip for Friday that was changed last minute because of the rain. She worked her magic and created a wonderful morning at the movies followed by lunch at St. John’s with Minute To Win It games, bubbles, crafts and more. Rachel Pfost, Lisa Ayres, and Shukri Mohamud, an intern from Old North,  did a fabulous job with Priscilla in leading the games. Even though it wasn’t what was originally planned, it was great fun (and hard work!). The Parish House and lawn out front were filled with laughter.

Just after lunch, Steve Spinetto arranged for a special presentation by Maureen McKinnnon, a gold medal winner in sailing at the Beijing Paralympics in 2008. Maureen held the group entranced for more than an hour as she described how she overcame her disability to achieve great success. The gold medal was passed along the aisles of the church for all to admire.

Special thanks to all the St. John’s folks who contributed, either through financial donations, making lunches, cooking and serving, or showing up on the field day trip to make the Parish House ready:  Angela Alewine,  Lynne Levesque, David and Meg Cushing, Jenn Herlihy, Maureen Lavely, Liz Senft, Barbara Bush, Priscilla Burns, Jonathan McCormick, Kathleen McCormick, Evie Scoville, Nan Armstrong, Alice Krapf, Tom Mousin, Lorraine Gagnon, Paul Newell, Rachel Pfost,  Simon Ringrose, Claudia and Mike Mickelson, Fay Donohue, Steve Spinetto, Catherine Womack, and Danny Spinetto.